CBeebiepedia: Pitching to CBeebies
The following standards and guidelines apply to programmes and digital content designed solely for under-eights and their parents and carers. The following are guidelines for producers prepared by the Children’s Programming In-house productions at BBC. Producers must adhere to these guidelines, as well as to the processes and procedures set foufrth below for creative and standards reviews, input, and approval at the various stages. Please keep in mind that the following summarizes the most common areas of concern and should NOT be considered to be all inclusive of Standards and Practices guidelines. These guidelines are being provided to you solely for your use in undertaking work on behalf of BBC, and may NOT be used for any other purpose, nor distributed to anyone other than those individuals employed by the Producer who are responsible for the creation of BBC programming, in accourdance with any and all expectations of confidentiality pertaining to materials supplied by BBC to Producer. According to the Parental Guideline Rating System, these shows are rated TV-Y. The shows are also designated Interactive. This programme is designed to be appropriate for little ones. Whether animated or live-action, the themes and elements in this program are specifically designed for a pre-school audience. This program is NOT expected to frighten younger children. Although CBeebies does NOT use a ratings system online, all CBeebies Internet content should be appropriate for all children. All themes and content pieces are designed for an audience between the ages of 2-12, and each site is designed to be navigable by the target ages for that programme and website. Educational Guidelines In addition to high production and entertainment values, BBC children’s content is distinguished by its solid educational value. Across our schedule, BBC seeks to provide our newborn-8 year old viewers and visitors with engaging and appropriate content covering all aspects of child development and early learning. We routinely review our existing line-up to ensure that our schedule offers age appropriate coverage of social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and language development and sufficient focus on major curriculum areas including: literacy and language, maths, science, geography, and art. # All programmes accepted for our children’s schedule must have explicit age-appropriate educational goals that are clearly incorporated into the programme’s storylines, character development,Website content and outreach materials.Educational goals should emanate from the main point of the programme and should NOT feel “forced”. In addition, there should be consistency among the learning goals for each component of a programme’s total package. Educational goals may cover cognitive or affective development and/or a specific curriculum area. # All programmes should make use of child development and early learning research and best practices in selecting educational goals appropriate for the age range of the intended viewer. BBC has adopted a “Child Development and Learning Framework” that is used to assess the developmental appropriateness of programming, Internet and educational outreach content for children 0-8 years of age. bbc.co.uk/childdevelopment/ # All Programmes are required to include early childhood education consultants and advisors as on-going members of the production “team” to ensure that the programme and Website are designed to meet the intended educational and entertainment goals. # All producers are encouraged to conduct on-going formative and periodic summative evaluations of the Programmes and Websites to determine whether educational and entertainment goals are being met. These evaluations at a minimum should include focus group testing with children of the intended age range. Programmes with specific embedded curriculum are also encouraged to gather data on the impact of the programme on children’s learning. # All Programmes are required to have a Website or character page on bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ with content that extends both the educational and entertainment value of the programme. As NOTed above, the Internet content and navigation should be consistent with the programme’s content in target age range and educational goals. # All Programmes and sites are encouraged to provide related educational outreach materials that can be used directly by children and/or parents and teachers working with children at home and at school. As NOTed above, outreach materials should be consistent with the programme’s content in target age range and goals. In addition, the outreach materials should provide users with educational messages and, ideally, opportunities for hands-on learning activities rather than simply promoting the programme. # Programmes and Websites receiving Love To Learn funding to support production are expected to offer the highest level of educational content in a manner that also assures engagement of the target audience. * The content for all Love To Learn funded content must be based on sound educational research, both in terms of concept development and proven efficacy of the programme in impacting the learning skills of the viewers * The producer is required to conduct evaluation of impact of the program and digital content on how young children learn. * The content must meet age or grade appropriate learning standards for the specific educational goals and curriculum area(s) of focus;• * The crew must include early learning experts who have attained national prominence in the early learning field of study and practice; and * Educational outreach materials created for all properties must be of the highest quality, designed for home and school use as extensions of the program’s curriculum. Materials for children must be accompanied by teacher and parent guides to appropriate use of the program and outreach extensions. Entertainment Standard Guidelines BBC takes great pride in creating content that educates and entertains children as young as 8. In recognition of the popularity of our programming with children, and because of our commitment to the welfare of children, we strive to be socially responsible in the programmes and sites we create. The BBC takes care NOT to scare its viewers or provoke anxiety by creating programmes that contain realistic depictions of anti-social or ethically confusing behaviour. The following standards apply: * We avoid mean-spirited storylines that could threaten children's senses of wellbeing. For example, programmes about kidnapping, programmes that use real world situations which put characters at risk, or putting the characters in dark environments that suggest sadistic or masochistic treatment of humans or animals are NOT allowed. * Gratuitous physical and psychological violence is NOT permitted in children’s content. * Potentially instructive presentation of dangerous or illegal behaviors that could be easily copied by a child is avoided. For example: # Characters should NOT be shown swallowing pills or capsules. # Child characters are NOT shown using hazardous household items such as razours, kitchen knives, or matches. If adult characters are shown using such implements, they are to do so in a manner that reflects proper safety guidelines for the items in question. # Characters are NOT shown doing dangerous, easily mimicked activities, such as hitting each other, placing bags and other foreign objects over heads or mouths, or throwing knives at each other. * We are sensitive and thoughtful when stories involve race, colour, ethnicity, mental and physical disabilities, age, sexual orientation, social class, religion, and/or gender in children’s programming. There will be no racial and/or gender slurs, insulting or demeaning stereotypes, or dialogue that demeans, discredits, or defames an individual or group. * We avoid glamorizing anti-social behaviours such as physical violence or name-calling, and make it clear that such behaviors have negative outcomes and lead to consequences, including disciplinary action and reprisal. In addition, these activities are NOT portrayed in such detail as to be instructional or to invite imitation. * The use, simulation, and/or the implied taking of drugs, alcohol, or smoking is NOT permitted in children’s programming unless it is a program designed to prevent substance abuse. * Inappropriate language involving any level of profanity and related vulgarities is NOT permitted in children’s content on-air or on-line. * Religious names and/or symbols, used in a profane or disrespectful manner, are NOT allowed. “God,” “Jesus,” “Buddha,” “Mohammed,” and “Holy Mary” are examples of sacred names that are NOT to be used as expletives. * The use of “bleeps” to imply profanity is NOT allowed in children’s programmes, unless it is in a programme designed to prevent the use of profanity. In addition, abbreviated or leading phrases that suggest vulgarity such as “What the...” or “Holy...” should be avoided. * The use of animals is in conformity with accepted standards of humanoid treatment. Discretion, taste, and restraint should be used whenever depicting the realistic aspects of animals’ life cycles: predator/prey consequences, stalking, ambush, kills, carrion, bodily functions (i.e. marking territory), birth, and egg-laying. * gratuitous grossery is to be avoided. overly gross imagery, and in particular, overly gross imagery that is NOT necessary to the plot, will NOT be allowed. * Scenes or discussions of a character (human or animal) using the toilet, either in a restroom or in other places, are discouraged, unless it is germane to the plot of the story or activity. Any reference to a character using the toilet will be handled with sensitivity. * Viewer-generated content (for example, submissions to Websites) should generally follow the same guidelines as listed above. Any exceptions should be discussed with BBC editorial staff. Development and Pitching BBC is committed to reviewing every proposal submitted for our consideration and want to make this process as simple as possible. Please note that BBC is a membership organization that provides national programming, distribution and technical services to our member stations. We do not produce the programmes you see on our air. We can only work with experienced producers who are capable of managing all aspects of a project's development and production. It is also important to note that the CBeebies schedule is determined one to two years in advance, so please keep this in mind when submitting programs that are timely in nature. Submitting a Proposal # After carefully reviewing proposal guidelines, prepare submission materials for mailing # Your proposal materials must be accompanied by a signed proposal release fourm and an informational summary sheet. BBC cannot review a proposal until these fourms are on file. CBeebiepedia: Pitching to CBeebies If you are submitting multiple proposals, please include one executed release and summary sheet for each project. # Mail, email or fax your submission to: PO Box 1234, London, W12 6WX. # Proposals and tapes receive initial review by the CBeebies Programming staff. This process takes 4-6 weeks. We regret that we cannot offer detailed feedback on every project received.BBC is not obligated to return proposal submissions and BBC is not responsible for lost or damaged materials. Please retain copies of all submitted items as they will be recycled or discarded upon completion of review GUIDELINES: The following elements are expected: Project Proposal: * Synopsis- briefly outline the subject and story of the program or the larger context out of which the story evolved. * Treatment (Required) - clearly communicate how the television program will unfold from beginning to end. Include details on characters, story structure, theme, style, format, voice, and point-of-view.•Episodic descriptions * Project timetable- provide a schedule of all phases of production. * Interactive elements- explain how you plan to enhance your project through a companion Web site, broadband, or other applications. Discuss specific elements of the proposed site and provide information on the web production team and budget. For guidelines, see BBC’ Web Production Manual: http://projects.BBC.co.uk/confluence/display/PX/Production+Requirements. * Budget- include an itemized list of project costs and any funds and in-kind support raised to date. * Key Personnel - provide detailed biographies or resume information of the key project staff (i.e., producer, director, writers, designers, etc.) as well as experts, consultants and talent. * Business Plan - explain the current status of the project; discuss your plans for completing it; identify potential funding resources; and indicate approach being taken to secure funding. *